Session 120 - Roundtable: Digital Engineering - Transforming the Way We Design, Deliver, and Manage Projects

This roundtable focused on Digital Engineering (DE), an integrated digital approach that uses authoritative sources of system data and models as a continuum across disciplines to support life cycle activities from concept through disposal. Megaproject construction challenges have common traits with many active projects failing to meet cost and schedule efforts by significant margins. In addition, due to the desire to reduce schedule and avoid escalation, construction is often begun prior to full design maturity. DE embodies a deliberate transformational approach to the way systems are designed, engineered, constructed, operated, maintained, and retired. Abstracts were solicited in any, or all, of the five areas of DE: 1)Transformation from document-centric engineering to model-based engineering; 2) Centralization of data into an authoritative source of truth through a digital thread; 3) Innovation through technology to form domain aware digital twins, 4) Computational infrastructure to host the ecosystem and environment, or 5) Transformation of culture to utilize new digital ecosystem. Panelists with presentations: A Use Case for Digital Engineering in Construction: Virtual Inspection by a Risk-Informed Regulator (Michael Mazzola, University of North Carolina Charlotte (USA)); Digital Transformation at Bechtel (Michael deLamare, Bechtel Global Inc (USA)); Digital Engineering of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle (Christopher Ritter, Idaho National Laboratory (USA))